Come meet your fellow bloggers and social media types in a friendly, unstructured setting. BlogFest is an informal and friendly quarterly (or so, ahem) gathering of local bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, and anyone who enjoys life on the Internet. It’s more happy hour than meeting: No talks will be given, no credentials required.

WHAT: Pittsburgh Blogfest 20WHEN: Friday, August 27, 2010, 5:30 PM to 9:30 PM and beyondWHERE: Finnegan’s Wake (near PNC Park, 20 General Robinson St., North Shore, 412-325-2601), in the Pub RoomWHO: All local bloggers, podcasters, and social media folk of all stripes (and their friends… feel free to bring some even if they don’t blog!)

Food and beverages will be available for purchase from Finnegan’s Wake, as always. Arrive when you like, leave when you must.

SMOKING NOTE: As always, the room in which we’ll be blogfesting will be smoke-free. The rest of the bar allows smoking, so one can hop out for a smoke break. There’s a glass wall between, so the smokers and nonsmokers can stare at each other and see how the other half lives.

Five years ago, right around this time, a half-dozen or so bloggers in the Pittsburgh area were reading each others’ blogs, commenting, and generally marveling at the discovery that each of us was not alone — that there were not a few folks in the region who had started writing online.

We were a motley collection, writing about politics or sports or writing or random cultural flotsam. While there was no unity of theme, we shared a passion for sharing.

Several bloggers made extensive effort to compile blogrolls of Pittsburgh blogs. Everyone linked to everyone, but it was hard to tell which blogs were about what.

Both efforts got off to strong starts. About 20 bloggers attended the first BlogFest. The shocking thing was not the size of the crowd but how well we enjoyed each others company. We immediately made plans to make a habit of convening.

Notably, Mike Woycheck was unable to attend the first fest, but he proceeded to make up for his absence by constructing and launching the website on which we depend to this day.

I don’t know the exact date of the launch. (Please comment if you do.) What I do know is that it’s time to celebrate.

Pittsburgh BlogFest 19: Happy birthday to us!

Come meet your fellow bloggers and social media types in a friendly, unstructured setting. BlogFest is an informal and friendly quarterly gathering of local bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, and anyone who enjoys life on the Internet. It’s more happy hour than meeting: No talks will be given, no credentials required.

WHAT: Pittsburgh Blogfest 19
WHEN: FRIDAY, November 20, 2009, 5:30 PM to 9:30 PM and beyond
WHERE: Finnegan’s Wake (near PNC Park, 20 General Robinson St., North Shore, 412-325-2601), in the Pub Room
WHO: All local bloggers, podcasters, and social media folk of all stripes (and their friends… feel free to bring some even if they don’t blog!)

Food and beverages will be available for purchase from Finnegan’s Wake, as always. Arrive when you like, leave when you must.

SMOKING NOTE: As always, the room in which we’ll be blogfesting will be smoke-free.

If you plan to attend, please send an e-mail to blogfest AT pghbloggers.org

I noted yesterday that since both Woycheck and I created event listings on the Pittsburgh Bloggers Facebook group for next week’s BlogFest, we now have a chance for a completely meaningless competition: Who can get more people to RSVP for their version of the BlogFest.

Current status:

Mine is the one listed on top (“Pittsburgh BlogFest 16” — note the Silicon Valley-influenced intercapping style and the restraint in not using exclamation points in the event name).

Ack! Mike is ahead by one after one day.

Although this is a meaningless competition, it can still be hotly contested. So let me use this opportunity to make my case:

PLEASE please please! RSVP for my event! I will bring very special, highly prized stickers to BlogFest for only those who RSVP for my event. You will be very happy to have one of these stickers.

Also for your consideration, here is a statement from a third party, Carlos the Mack’rel:

Tween Closkey the Red or Woychek the bald,Which -fest to attend? Our sixteenth, it’s called.A vote cast for Cind, one smart MIT babeKeeps us from seeing her red wrath’s outgrabe.Voting for Mike, though, won’t cut through the slackHe talks too darn fast – at times snicker snack!I’ll go with the chick, though Mike’s also coolBy voting the chick, you won’t be a fool. Sitting amongst you, amid tulgey wood,Will Carlos the Mack be, blogging the good.

So when meet we to eat and drink?
Pre-twelfth month days are running short
To drink a beer or liquor snort.
Please schedule soon, I’m on the brink.

Upon receiving this pointed reminder, the Pittsburgh Bloggers cabal sprang to action. There is indeed little time left in the year, and no matter when we schedule the next get-together we’re going to be giving people precious little notice. Still, a small blogfest is better than none at all, so….

Food and beverages will be available for purchase from Finnegan’s Wake, as always. Arrive when you like, leave when you must.

SMOKING NOTE: As always, the room in which we’ll be blogfesting will be smoke-free. The rest of the bar allows smoking, so one can hop out for a smoke break. There’s a glass wall between, so the smokers and nonsmokers can stare at each other and see how the other half lives.

As always, if you plan to attend, please send an e-mail to "blogfest at-sign closkey dot com".

I could delete mine, or he could delete his. But instead let’s have a contest. Whose event do you want to attend, mine or Woycheck’s? RSVP on Facebook to attend one or the other, or both, or neither. Prizes and penalties to be determined, plus bonuses for RSVPing members if I can think of any. Read the competing event listings and RSVP here.

(Yes, they’re actually the same event, same location, same day and time. So choosing which you like better will be extra difficult. Good luck!)

Pittsburgh BlogFest 15 is marching up to us — or we’re marching up to it, depending on your views of the passage of time. You’ll join us this Friday (5:30pm at Finnegan’s Wake), won’t you? Details are here as well as here.

Mysterious local poet Carlos the Mackerel sent me a new poem in honor of the event:

Three days hence, we’ll meet and drink
Near Pirate’s cove, at Joyce’s pub.
We writers all, though none in ink
Blogging what we bloggers think,
We’ll talk – aye, there’s the rub.
Some blogs, some beers and cocktails fine
We’ll talk bout yours, we’ll talk bout mine.
We’ll discourse on the signs in Mary Worth
And chat about the Politics of Hope.
We’ll snark on the casino’s near still-birth
And wonder why the mayor is such a dope.

Food and beverages will be available for purchase from Finnegan’s Wake, as always. Arrive when you like, leave when you must.

SMOKING NOTE: As always, the room in which we’ll be blogfesting will be smoke-free. The rest of the bar allows smoking, so one can hop out for a smoke break. There’s a glass wall between, so the smokers and nonsmokers can stare at each other and see how the other half lives.

As always, if you plan to attend, please send an e-mail to "blogfest at-sign closkey dot com". I hope to see you there!

Cyn Closkey with your hair all rosey-red
Please tell me of the next new blogfest’s date.
The time as well must get inside my head
For me to be there on time and not late.
I’ll drink a beer or two before I leave
And chomp a pomme frite if my heart so dare.
I promise not to drink so much I heave
For puking would cause pity and despair
A chat with Inner Bitch and Sandwich Mike
And you, of course, the time I’m quaffing ale
A room all blogger full I can’t dislike
I’ll be there this time, promise! I’ll not fail.
Please tell me Red; oh tell me date and time
To miss a blogfest is a heinous crime.

Signed,
Carlos the Mackerel

Here is my response:

Dear Carlos Mack’rel, wise and funny guy,
How right you are to query on this point,
For nearly three months now have passed on by
Since last we gathered all to rock the joint.
The summer days, though long and bright and hot
And seeming endless now, grow short again.
Cool Autumn looms. You must think we forgot
To tell yinz where to gather; also when.
In June, we BlogFest planners planned a date,
And all agreed. Then ev’rything went wild.
We were so busy, and that made us late.
I blame it all on Woycheck’s brand new child.
The date we’ll tell you soon — be patient, sir!
First we must check the room’s reserved for sure.

Look for an announcement about the next Pittsburgh BlogFest very, very soon. (Sorry for the wait.)

It’s surely a record for me to post the sign-in sheet from a BlogFest on the very next day.

Granted, I haven’t listed and linked up all the signatures to their respective websites. Will do that later today. (If you want to help speed things along, map some of the signatures in on the Flickr page.)

My oh my, it was a grand event. Certainly one of our hottest, not only because the room was sweltering but also because the mix of people was fan-freaking-tastic.

There was conversation, and blogging, and Twittering all over the place. There were drinks and food, including more sandwich wraps than I have ever seen ordered by a single group. There was a birthday chop for a birthday boy who wasn’t actually present (but whom a goodly portion of the crowd caught up with for a post-BlogFest get-together afterwards).

There was also an unidentified movie playing in the corner, starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Sutherland, and a Baldwin. In the movie, the electronic systems of a large boat seemed bent on consuming all the passengers and crew. We speculated on what the movie might be, and which Baldwin it was. I’m pleased now to be able to answer these questions: The movie was Virus (1990), the boat was "a top secret Russian research vessel and finds it infected by an alien life form which regards humans as a virus which must be destroyed at any cost," and the Baldwin was William. (I don’t think any of us guessed William.)

Many photos were taken by Dawn and others. (Did you take photos? Post links to yours in the comments, please.)

Food and beverages will be available for purchase from Finnegan’s Wake, as always. Arrive when you like, leave when you must.

SMOKING NOTE: As always, the room in which we’ll be blogfesting will be smoke-free. The rest of the bar allows smoking, so one can hop out for a smoke break. There’s a glass wall between, so the smokers and nonsmokers can stare at each other and see how the other half lives.

As always, if you plan to attend, please send an e-mail to "blogfest at-sign closkey dot com". I hope to see you there!

Last Friday’s Pittsburgh BlogFest was perhaps the best one we’ve had yet. Despite the snow and slippy conditions, lots and lots of fabulous, fascinating people showed up. The sign-in sheet, which you see above, gives you a sense of it, but I can think of at least a dozen others who didn’t sign in.

The point is that there were bunches of us, and we mingled and talked and laughed and were completely amazing. I think the last of us left around 11:30, and I for one would have been happy to hang around longer.

Ordinarily I make an image map of the sign-in sheet with links to everyone’s sites. This time I’m trying something new: I posted the sheet to Flickr, added notes for the signatures, and put the list of links there. Click the photo to see this wonder of technology in action, and to add your own notes and comments. If you missed signing in at the event, please add a comment to the Flickr photo or to this post, with a link and a promise to be more attentive next time.

Oh! And if you took photos or shot video, or if you wrote a wrap-up post, tag it with "pghbloggers" so we can find it.

Thanks to everyone who showed up! I’m already looking forward to our next BlogFest; it will probably be in May, that merry merry month.